Once upon a time, before 8 Mile and his Oscar win for Best Original Song, Eminem was kinda-sorta rejected for a starring role in a Grand Theft Auto Film, so says irk Ewing, an industry veteran and friend of GTA creators Sam and Dan Houser.

In an interview with Bugzy Malone’s Grandest Game podcast, Ewing explained that Sam turned down a $5 million USD offer for the movie rights just shortly after Grand Theft Auto III was released in 2001, per Hypebeast. Top Gun director Tony Scott was pitched to direct.

“[The agent] said, ‘Kirk, we’ve got Eminem to star, and it’s a Tony Scott film. $5 million on the nose. Are you interested?’” Ewing said. “And I phoned up Sam and I said: ‘Listen to this. They want Eminem in the Grand Theft Auto movie and Tony Scott to direct.’ And he said: ‘Not interested’ … They realized that the media franchise that they had was bigger than any movie that was going on at the time.”

The Grand Theft Auto film never materialized and Eminem obviously kept it moving, racking up a mountain of accomplishments in his career, including his recent induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.